Letters: Taxes bite the middle class the hardest

HUNTINGTON BEACH, John C. Vita: I was amazed at the contrast of the two opinion pieces in the Feb. 12 Opinion section.

Mark Bucher claimed that public workers were living high on the hog [“Time to cap state's generous pensions”]. Brian Beger claimed that public workers are just getting by and fighting to stay middle class [“A plan that dismisses the middle class”].

I know two public service workers. Both are doing quite well and barely felt the effects of the recession. On the other hand, I know many private sector workers who were hit hard by the recession and still have not recovered. Some have given up and moved out of state.

Moreover, I noticed that while Beger is trying to make the argument that more pay and benefits to the public sector workers are good for the middle class, he makes no reference to the middle class taxpayer who is paying some of the highest sales taxes, income taxes and property taxes for the public sector workers to enjoy good salaries, medical and pensions.

Eventually, the only people left in California will be the rich and the poor. Younger, middle class families can no longer afford to live here. With the middle class paying most of the taxes, and with the rich being able to avoid taxes, once the middle class is gone there will be not enough money to pay the public sector workers. Think of Detroit.

Let's wise up and strike a fair, reasonable balance now before that happens.

Detroit lessons

LAGUNA NIGUEL, William Jameson: The only political thing that botched the Detroit bailout was half a century of Democratic leadership and the fraud, waste and abuse that came with it. Detroit has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.

The once-great city has been reduced to a wasteland. Nobody can blame the Republicans for this financial mess. The citizens and their elected representatives are responsible. Giving them more money would be like drilling holes in the bottom of a boat to let the water out.

Circumventing campaign finance laws

FULLERTON, Chris Norby: With all due respect to Register columnist Gloria Romero, her article on campaign finance violations misses the point [“Watchdog sees campaign violations at record levels,” Opinion, Feb. 11].

So long as unrealistically low limits on campaign contributions exist (as they have since the post-Watergate era) ways will be found to circumvent them.

Independent expenditure committees, super-PACs and check bundling have all been created to give candidates underground support that they cannot accept directly. It's far better to allow unlimited individual contributions – with immediate disclosure. Then, the public can judge for itself who is bought and who not.

The current system only invites corruption and negative campaigns unaccountable to the candidates.

Just when I though I'd heard it all from the Obama administration, they throw the American public another curve ball [“Let ex-felons vote, Holder says,” News, Feb. 12]. I have watched the Democrats specifically target and pursue the vote of illegal immigrant supporters, jobless' vote, women's votes, the union's vote and God only knows what else.

California's drought issues

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Kurt Parker: I am amazed at the lack of leadership by our elected leaders as California contends with this drought. We should limit new housing until we build desalination plants, and transition vegetation for industrial parks, public institutions and homes to rocks and desert plants like we see in Arizona.

Targeting plastic

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Thomas Greeley: Thank you for providing the article [“Legislators go after plastic bags,” Opinion, Feb. 6] that details the Huntington Beach City Council's misguided efforts to parent their community. I support putting this issue on the November ballot and letting the community decide.

A class act

MISSION VIEJO, Frank Prestia:Being a senior citizen, I got to thinking about how the death of Shirley Temple separates previous generations that knew her work with more recent generations [“Remembering Shirley Temple Black,” Letters, Feb. 14].

We had Shirley Temple and they have Honey Boo Boo. That speaks for itself.

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